Latest News & Info

Sep

21

2011

Viagra - Could It Make You Deaf

Doctors have begun to warn that Viagra could damage users' hearing after a spate of people in the US with auditory problems

Experts, including some from Charing Cross, Stoke Mandeville and Royal Marsden hospitals, were so concerned by the claims about Viagra that they demanded an investigation from official watchdogs across three continents.

Users in America, East Asia and Australia were questioned as to whether they suffered hearing loss shortly after taking Viagra.

Forty-seven suspected cases of sensorineural hearing loss – a rapid loss of hearing in one or both ears – were linked to Viagra and related drugs Cialis and Levitra.

Eight were from the UK. However, another 223 reports made in the US had to be excluded due to a lack of detail about Viagra.

The researchers are not sure how Viagra might affect hearing, but it may be that the chain of chemical reactions it triggers have knock-on effects in the inner ear.

The average age of those affected was 57, although two of the men involved were only 37, the study found. Dr Afroze Shah Khan, of Charing Cross Hospital, said: "Medical practitioners involved in the prescription of Viagra need to be vigilant about this potential side-effect.